The Patriot (1986) User Reviews

One of the cheapest action flicks I've seen

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 7 October 2015]

I've found a TV channel that seems to be showing the whole back catalogue of the 'Crown International Pictures' production company and so far their output seems to have been pretty hopeless. THE PATRIOT is a cheap, poorly-cast action thriller that feels like an American Bond flick, with a loquacious cowboy taking on the role of the hero and some nondescript terrorists plotting to commit various atrocities.

Let's be honest here: this is poor stuff indeed, ineptly directed and with very tame and insipid action sequences. The real story seems to take forever to get going and when it finally does you wonder if it was worth it. The only thing this has going for it is a mini UNDER SIEGE scenario at the climax in which the hero and his buddies climb onto a ship populated by hijackers.

The erstwhile hero of the piece is played by the miscast Gregg Henry, better known to audiences for playing scuzzy characters in the likes of PAYBACK and SLITHER. Old timers Michael J. Pollard and Leslie Nielsen show up, the latter with such a deep voice that it sounds like he was dubbed. Everywhere THE PATRIOT is tame and predictable, and only huge fans of cheap 1980s cinema will get a kick out of it.

Barfight At The Chili Factory

[tarbosh22000 · 3/10 · 22 September 2010]

"A Fight For Freedom On The Ocean Floor!" When smugglers sneak into a nuclear storage facility and steal some nukes, only one man can stop them: ex-Navy SEAL and Vietnam vet Lieutenant Matt Ryder (Henry). Back in 'Nam he was known as "The Patriot". He assembles a team to help him, which includes Howard (Pollard) and Kenwood (Mike Gomez). The top Brass, Admiral Frazer (Nielsen) and Commander Mitchell (Conaway) oversee Ryder, who is one bad dude with an attitude. He wears his shades and rides his Harley to bars and picks up chicks. Will Ryder be able to stop the smugglers? Somehow this movie manages to fill up 90 minutes with not very much happening. There are only mere strands of a plot with some filler in-between. Sure, there are some familiar faces, which is nice, but it's not enough. NOT ENOUGH HAPPENS! However, if you want to see Michael J. Pollard play Twister with a cheerleader you can see it here.

There's a Barfight at The Chili Factory (that should have been the title for this movie, come to think of it) which is pretty lackluster, like the rest of this dull film. The dummies that steal the nuke, the guys that look like David Spade and Andre Agassi, are so dumb, it's hard to believe that A. They could break into ANY kind of facility and B. That they are a serious threat - so the movie has no suspense. The bad guys just dance around to the song "Dance the Night Away" by Randy and Liz Jackson. They're not exactly Ahmadinejad.

The babyish, cackling Pollard is always nice to see, as was Leslie Nielsen in a serious role. It was before he was typecast as a wacky comic actor. It's hard to believe, in 2010, that there was ever a time before Wrongfully Accused (1998) and 2001: A Space Travesty (2000), but there it is for the world to see. There was a scene with just Henry, Nielsen and Conaway in a room talking, which was cool, but it could have been awesome if there was some tension or fireworks.

The action largely takes place on an oil rig, and has to do with explosions. Is BP aware of this? It's almost eerie to watch. Almost. Technical notes: John Barrett of American Kickboxer 1 (1990) and Shootfighter (1992) fame and Kane Hodder of Friday the 13th fame are listed as Stuntmen. The screenplay was co-written by Katt Shea Ruben of The Devastator (1985) fame.

In all, this bland film could have used MORE - more action, more tension, more violence, more edge, more Nielsen, more ANYTHING! It's not BAD per se, but despite the good cast, The Patriot is, sadly, lacking.

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Lame, Predictable Action Movie

[TheExpatriate700 · 3/10 · 25 March 2016]

The Patriot is a poorly written action thriller that doesn't even manage a coherent ending. It has a stereotypical action plot, in which a group of terrorists steal some nuclear warheads and a renegade Special Forces operative have to track them down. However, it does not have any logic or well-drawn characters.

The film fails on multiple levels. First, the protagonist seems like the last guy you would put in charge of tracking down some lost nuclear warheads. He is first introduced to us through a bar fight in which he takes some money, then lies about having money to a girl he borrowed money from. He gets involved in the warhead chase when his girlfriend discovers something near an oil rig that he just knows came from a nuclear weapon, and subsequently gets killed. When the Navy turns to him to track the bomb down, his first priority is to seduce an old girlfriend. Yeah, I'd totally feel confident entrusting our national security to this guy.

The Patriot also suffers from severe predictability. For example, when Ryder meets with the Navy admiral in charge of the warhead hunt (Leslie Nielson in a rare post-Airplane serious role), we immediately know that the Admiral's antsy assistant is a traitor. When we meet the villains' idiotic henchmen, we know the main villain will eventually dispose of them.

Perhaps worst of all, the film's ending is so poorly done it's difficult to tell what happened. At the climax, Ryder is trying to defuse a nuclear weapon on a countdown to detonation. (Why the villain had the countdown going is never adequately explained, as he was in the same place as the fracking bomb!) He goes to cut a wire which will either end the countdown or immediately detonate it. The scene then fades to white, and we next see a country road where Ryder picks up a hitchhiking girl he previously met at a bar. So, did he successfully defuse the bomb, or is the country road some strange metaphor for the afterlife?

The only redeeming feature of this movie is the late Stack Pierce's performance as the film's main villain. Unlike the other villains, who come off as either moronic or borderline insane, Pierce comes across as scarily competent, so much so that one wishes the film had been about him.

Sadly this was not direct to video

[otto4 · 1/10 · 27 August 2005]

I payed to see this in the theater when it came out. My friend that went with me still hasn't forgiven me. For years after that this movie was our metric for measuring bad movies, as in "Man, that movie stunk almost as bad as The Patriot".

The only part of this movie I remember is when the good guy is storming an abandoned, rusty, offshore oil rig where the bad guys are, and he knocks one of the bad guys into the water. The bad guy sinks, but his M16 rifle floats...

I followed up the viewing of this movie with Sky Pirates about a week later. After that stinker ("man that was almost worse than The Patriot") my roommate stopped listening to my suggestions for movies to see.

So bad it's not even Camp.

[Koncorde · 7 July 2003]

It's not a 1, because you can't help but laugh at its lethargic plot hilarious 'characters' and woeful acting. Its ability to successfully not explain anything at all is a miracle of its own right, nevermind the stupidity of the badguys (hard of hearing too).

Fight scenes are ineptly shot, the underwater combat is just plain confusing as you can't tell who you're looking at during any one sequence (plus lovely editing means you're never sure if it's 3 seconds or 3 hours later).

Ah, terrible, so very very terrible. If this ever received anything other than the "Straight to Video" treatment then I'd be very surprised.

Gregg Henry was there before either Mel Gibson or Steven Seagal...

[KnatLouie · 5/10 · 24 September 2009]

...as THE PATRIOT, a former Navy SEAL, now turned biker, who is called upon by his old pals in the Navy to help stop evil underwater smugglers, who are stealing nuclear weapons and use them for bad purposes (as if there were any good purposes anyway).

Now, while most people don't know who the heck Gregg Henry is, some of you might remember him as the main bad guy villain from "PAYBACK", which coincidentally starred "the other Patriot", Mel Gibson (so that movie was unofficially "The Battle of the two Patriots"). In that movie, Henry was really doing what he does best, which was being a unsympathetic number one A-hole (he also played similar A-hole roles in "SLITHER", "BALLISTIC" and "BODY DOUBLE"). In this movie however, he's our main hero - the guy we're supposed to root for and identify with - and he actually succeeds by mere default, as all the other (male) characters in this movie are either sleazy scumbags, stupid criminals, military personnel, or simple retards. So, unless you're a woman, or rooting for Admiral Frazer (played by Leslie Nielsen in probably his *least* funny role ever - and also one of the smallest roles ever, only getting two short scenes), then Lieutenant Matt Ryder aka The Patriot is your guy.

The female lead, Sean, is played by Simone Griffeth, whom most of us probably only know from "DEATH RACE 2000" where she played Annie "Paine" Smith, and after that he career slowly but surely faded away, this movie being one of the final nails in the coffin, even though she actually did a good job here, playing a woman torn between two men - the other one being navy-guy Mitchell, played by the crazy-lookin' Jeff Conaway (from "TAXI" and "CELEBRITY REHAB"-fame), probably during his mid-80s substance abuse period, as he looks strung-out throughout the entire film.

Ryder and Sean go out to sea to hunt down the bad guys, with only the assistance of their helicopter-pilot pal Kenwood (Mike Gomez, "Cojones" from "HEARTBREAK RIDGE"), and loony buddy Howard (Michael J. Pollard of "BONNIE AND CLYDE"-fame), who is only in a handful of scenes, and randomly disappears before the great raid at the end, not to be seen or heard from again. I've no idea why he got 3rd billing in this movie, as his role was so short and completely redundant.

The bad guys are a mixed bag of nuts, not really led by anyone it seems (but we find out in the end who their "leader" supposedly is). The 2nd hand man is a bad-ass mo-fo played by Stack Pierce (who was a regular in other Frank Harris'-movies, and also got a nice part in "WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S II"), who has two simpleminded henchmen, Pink (played by Glenn Withrow, who's probably the least successful actor from "THE OUTSIDERS") and Bite (Larry Mintz aka 'Knobby' from "BURGLAR"). Also among the bad guys is a lunatic who goes by the name "Eight Ball" (played by Anthony Caldarella, who hasn't done anything memorable apart from this turkey), who mostly just stands around with his hands in his pockets, angrily staring at Ryder and making crude remarks for no apparent reason, until the end where they have a big showdown on the oil rig, where most of the action takes place.

Anyway, if you like this movie, you may also enjoy other Frank Harris-directed action-flicks, like "LOW BLOW" or "KILLPOINT", who along with this movie all are available in a DVD-box set called "10 MAXIMUM ACTION MOVIES", where I got it from.

I give it 5/10 because it was neither the worst b-movie I've seen, nor was it one of the best, but the action was decent, and the actors were interesting cast, so it was a good enough time-killer for me.

Ropey and dopey 80's action

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 6 July 2015]

Thieves steal a nuclear warhead from the American military. An ex-serviceman - who doesn't play by the rules - is called back into service to retrieve the missile.

This 80's action movie was directed by Frank Harris who also gave us Killpoint (1984). Both films are pretty shoddily put together, although Killpoint just shades this one in terms of entertainment value. Still, I have to say that for the most part I found The Patriot to be adequately okay in a time-passing sense. Its story is both simple yet confusingly told. But it still essentially manages to string together a series of action scenes that justifies its existence. It's also one of those movies which imply that acts of international terrorism involving high risk theft of nuclear weapons could possibly be carried out by disco dancing dunces who appear to possess the IQ of an Alsatian dog. Although this film also puts forward the idea that the American government would hand in a nuclear warhead to a shop to be mended! The cast is led by a guy called Gregg Henry who spends the entire time scowling at everybody and everything, Stack Pierce from Killpoint returns here as a genuinely evil looking dude, while there are a couple of small roles from name actors Leslie Nielsen (in a surreal comedy-free cameo) and Michael J. Pollard plays a character whose relevance to the story I am still trying to work out. On the whole, this is not very good but it is what it is.

the worst movie ever...

[gtchen66 · 1/10 · 20 May 2005]

Oh my god. For a long time, I wasn't sure if I actually saw this movie until I read the synopsis and the other review. Yes, this actually went to the theater. I saw it with 2 other friends on opening night. Apparently, one of the guys saw the one and only ad that had a positive review, and, not knowing any better, we went to see it.

There were 5 people in the audience.

The other 2 walked out 75% into the movie.

This was so bad, it wasn't even bad enough to be good.

Spoiler... I think the nuclear weapon got detonated... that was cool since the rest of the movie sucked... or maybe it didn't and I'm just imagining it did since that would have been the only redeemable aspect.

Woof...

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 2 March 2021]

We've already covered this movie, but seeing as how Mill Creek repeats so many movies in their box sets, I wanted to ensure that our site isn't all repeats too. I also like to get different views on movies.

Former TV reporter Frank Harris broke into movies via doing cinematography for action movies. He took advantage of the VHS rental boom to make his own films in the genre, starting with Killpoint, a movie that he was a one man crew for, working as the director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer. He also made Low Blow and Aftershock, movies filled with gun, explosions and the kind of actors we love around here, including Cameron Mitchell, Elizabeth Kaitan, Richard Lynch and John Saxon.

This movie has a broken arrow event, as a gang led by Atkins (Stack Pierce, who was in nearly all of Harris' movies) steal a nuke and a burned-out Navy SEAL (Gregg Henry, The Hunt for the BTK Killer) gets hired by Leslie Nielsen, of all people, to stop him.

There's a great supporting cast filled with the kind of people I obsessively read about on IMDB, like Jeff Conaway (!), Simone Griffeth (Annie Smith, Frankenstein's navigator in Death Race 2000), Michael J. Pollard (Four of the Apocalypse), Glenn Withrow (Sweet Sixteen), former pro boxer Mike Gomez and Sally Brown (Crawlspace),

A lot of comedy - not from Nielsen - kind of ruins what this movie could be, but it's movie fifty of fifty on this Mill Creek set and I wasn't expecting it to be anything to destroy my mind. That said, it did make me wonder the path that Jeff Conaway wandered from Kenickie to being in a Crown International action movie.

🌸 🔥

[PaulEss777 · 2/10 · 15 April 2024]

Starring the most ludicrous, unlikely 'leading man' - Gregg Henry - 'The Patriot' (not to be confused with any other 'The Patriot') is an oaf-heavy 1980's big-hair blow from start to finish.

Gregg's a mean-ass, biker/military type, who just happens to pop in for a beer at the same bar a gang who've just stolen two hydrogen bombs are at . .

Looking uncomfortably tough/camp in his leather jacket, and bovine from the neck up, Gregg quickly gets involved in terrorism and action. Mightily duff one-liners, scowling and Leslie Nielsen cameos hindering him not one jot.

Ratatat . . . Boom !!

Nothing to see here, ppl.

Is This For Real?

[Crap_Connoisseur · 2 July 2006]

The Patriot is a truly awful 80s action movie. In fact, it is so terrible that I thought it might have been a spoof until the blood started to flow. This film is poorly made, badly directed and something of a grazing ground for incompetent actors. And yet, it is also funny and mindlessly entertaining in a way that only 80s action trash can be.

The plot, if you could call it that, revolves around an ex-Navy Seal called Ryder. Ryder would have to be one of the most personality free action heroes in the history of cinema. If he's not mumbling something to one of his badly permed lady friends in the local bar, he's visiting a demented couple on a houseboat who play Twister dressed as high school students. In addition to these activities, Ryder is also called on by the Navy to stop the detonation of a stolen nuclear weapon. This proves to be rather straightforward due to a friend of Ryder conveniently finding the label from a missing nuke at her workplace. The coincidences continue when Ryder runs into his ex-lover on a Navy ship and we are treated to an incredibly unpleasant lovemaking scene between this most unattractive of couples. The film reaches a new low when two of the thieves dance to 80s pop music while unloading the nuke and then debate going to Disneyland.

There really is no excuse for this smörgåsbord of incompetence. The film was written by Katt Shea of "Poison Ivy" and "Stripped To Kill" fame, the budget appears to have been substantial given the scope of the special effects and Gregg Henry, who plays Ryder, is usually a very good actor. I guess this is just one of those ill-fated projects that inexplicably ends up being terrible. However, the incredibly dull direction, multitude of goofs and appalling supporting cast would not have helped matters.

Despite all the film's flaws, I could not help but find "The Patriot" mildly amusing. For example, Ryder's reunion with Sean, complete with Vietnam war back story, is so contrived and ridiculous that I had to laugh. The same goes for Jeff Conaway's crazy-eyed performance and the bumbling villains ("What's a Hiroshima?"). The action itself, while poorly handled, is still moderately entertaining. Maggie's decompression chamber mishap was my personal highlight.

The Patriot is not a film I would want to watch again but it is probably worth watching on TV if you are heavily medicated and there is nothing else on but re-runs of "Designing Women". Fans of bad 80s action movies or Leslie Nielsen might find it more bearable.